The carpet
by Prime Jeremy
Summary: After slamming her home down Blackthorn tells her he will personally help clean her home. She happily accepts the act of kindness, the problem is she is a bit clingy. Based on the end of comic issue 28.


Blackthorn smiled happily as he looked around the forest. It had taken a few hours longer than expected to clean Ponyville and all the other surrounding areas. Finally, though, the work was done. A great dread fell over him the next moment, however: he had taken care of the forest problem, but he had also given Rarity his word he would help clean her home up.

As if reading his mind, Rarity was beside him smiling. She didn't say anything, but her eyes said a thousand words.

He sighed. "Alright, Rarity. I gave you my word, so I'll come and help clean your home."

She fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Oh, you're such a gentlecolt, Blackthorn."

He rolled his eyes. "My people tend to use the word 'noble,' but I suppose that means the same thing, doesn't it?"

"Pretty much. Now, if you'll follow me, we might be able to get my house cleaned by the end of the day." She led them both to her boutique, unlocked the door, opened it, and motioned for Blackthorn to go in. He nodded his thanks to her as he walked in. She closed the door behind her as she followed.

Blackthorn looked around. Her home was a complete mess. Not only was there glitter on her carpet, but everything else was knocked over too.

He cringed as Rarity screamed in horror right in his ear, "My home!"

"Well I would have thought you'd expect this, Rarity."

"I did but I never imagined it would be this–NO!" She ran over to a chest. Before it lay shattered jewels. "I needed these for a customer!"

"Perhaps I could–"

"Of all the worst possible things that could happen, this is The. Worst. Possible. Thing!" She then pulled a red couch out of nowhere and flopped onto it over-dramatically.

Blackthorn stared at her. "That's a bit over the top, don't you think?"

She sat up and glared at him. "Over the top?! Certainly not! My entire home was ruined, and the gems I needed were destroyed! I'm in a horrible place right now!"

He sighed. "Look, I can try and fix them."

"How?"

He tapped on his bottle a few times. "Sapphires grow in the ground. I may be able to fix it like any other part of the ground. I won't promise anything, but–"

He was caught off guard as Rarity brushed against him affectionately. "Oh, Blackthorn, that is very sweet! Thank you so much!"

He took a step back sheepishly. "Um... you're welcome?" He wasn't even sure how it happened; she had been a few hoof lengths away, and then suddenly she was right in front of him brushing her body against his. He cleared his throat and walked over to the shattered gems. "I think I should do this outside. I don't know what is going to happen; I've never tried this before."

Rarity nodded. "I understand. We can take the gems outside." She picked the pieces up in her magic and brought them out about three meters from her home. "Is this far enough away?"

"Yes, I think so." Blackthorn took his bottle and, popping the top, and sprinkled a bit of the contents onto the gems.

They waited a few minutes, but nothing happened. She sighed in disappointment. "Well this is rather disappointing."

"I'm sorry, Rarity, I did what I could."

She forced a smile and gently waved him off. "Oh, it's quite alright, darling, I'll just have to go and dig up a few more after I make the dresses, I suppose." She sighed and turned back to her home.

Suddenly the gems began glowing a bright blue. "Rarity, the gems!"

She turned around, and her jaw dropped in awe. Once the glowing died away, the gems were revealed to have been fixed.

Rarity screamed in delight, then pulled Blackthorn into a tight embrace and kissed his cheek affectionately. "Oh, thank you so much, darling!"

Blackthorn blushed in embarrassment. She released him and picked up the gems, walking back to her home. "After we get my boutique orderly again, I'll make some tea for us."

"Thank you for the offer, but–"

"No need to resist. It's my pleasure, Blackthorn." She trotted back to her home happily.

Blackthorn sighed as he looked back towards the direction of the forest. Maybe if I hurry, I can get back to King Aspen and pretend none of this happened... He hesitated, though.

Before he had the time to decide, Rarity seemed to have noticed his troubled state of mind. "Yoohoo, Blackthorn! Are you coming, darling?"

He slowly looked towards the boutique to find Rarity waving at him flirtatiously. He sighed and nodded, slowly walking over. Following her inside, they began cleaning the mess in her home due to the aftermath of the boutique being slammed so harshly. A lot had to be fixed, even little things that didn't seem to really need to be fixed in Blackthorn's perspective. It was as though Rarity had memorized everything down to the tiniest of details. Luckily, nothing but the gems had broken; however, Rarity had Blackthorn move all the furniture around about five times, and then once more because she decided it would be best to leave it at all the way she'd had it before. Then they dusted everything off just to make sure it looked perfect, and she had him put a new coating of polish on the floor, the counter, and everything else Rarity felt needed to be polished.

* * *

Blackthorn sighed as he sat down on Rarity's couch in the living room, exhausted. "I haven't done this much manual labor in a while." He heard her front door open and close, and moments later a young filly walked by the doorway.

"Rarity, I–" She stopped when she noticed him sitting there. There was an awkward silence as they stared at each other blankly for a while.

Rarity appeared from the kitchen. "Sweetie Belle, darling, could you– Oh, I see you've met Blackthorn." She walked to her sister's side. "Blackthorn, this is my darling sister, Sweetie Belle."

Blackthorn nodded. "Hello Sweetie Belle."

She smiled at him. "Hi, Blackthorn! Where are you from? Are you a warrior? Have you killed any beasts? And how come you act so intelligent yet Fluttershy has a bunch of dumb, smelly old deer in pens that she lets ponies adopt?"

Blackthorn was baffled as the questions continued on. The last one was insulting, though. "Well–"

"Sweetie Belle! That last question was uncalled for!"

"What? It's true, isn't it?"

Rarity scoffed. "Of course not! Whoever told you that is extremely rude and insensitive to other's feelings. You shouldn't listen to them if that's what they're telling you, darling."

"But Rarity, you're the one who t–"

Rarity covered her mouth with her hoof quickly, giving a nervous giggle. "Now now, my dear, sweet sister, no need to get into details, am I right?"

Sweetie Belle gave her a fierce glare.

Rarity turned to Blackthorn and gave him an apologetic smile. "I am so, so sorry about my sister, Blackthorn. She can be a little... blunt at times."

"It's alright. For the record, I am in fact a warrior, though I have no idea what you mean by that last part. I have yet to see a deer that acts dumb in any way."

"Oh, indeed, Blackthorn, you come from a very fine and graceful race!"

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at this. Rarity seemed to notice the rude gesture. "Excuse us, Blackthorn. My sister and I need to go and have a little talk." She glared down at her sister, who returned the glare. She then dragged her out of the room.

* * *

Rarity finally let Sweetie Belle go once they were upstairs. Closing the door ever-so-gently, she glared the fires of Hell at her sister. "What is wrong with you, Sweetie Belle?! Do you know how rude you were down there?!"

"Well do you know how much of a hypocrite you are right now?! You're the one who said all that, and then you said I was being rude!"

Rarity sighed. "Look, Sweetie, darling, this sta– buck means a lot to me. He is handsome, well-mannered, and just graceful enough for my tastes."

Sweetie Belle's demeanor softened. "Okay, I get that you like him, but did you have to be a hypocrite?"

"Unfortunately yes, darling, sorry, but you almost ruined everything. Blurting out that I said that about his people would probably make him leave. It was either be a little harsh with you or watch Blackthorn leave forever."

Sweetie Belle shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you have a point, Rarity."

"Now I want you to go play with your friends or something. I don't really care what you do as long as it's safe and out of the way of me and Blackthorn."

Sweetie Belle smiled and gave a nod. "Okay, I'll be back later, sis." She then ran downstairs.

Rarity sighed in relief. "Well, now that she's gone, I can continue wooing Blackthorn." She smiled as she strutted downstairs in a sultry fashion.

She walked in front of the doorway of the living room and smiled at Blackthorn, who sat silently on the couch. "I'll be back with the tea in a minute, darling; just stay right there."

Blackthorn sighed. "I really should be going now, Rarity. I only came to help clean your home up."

Rarity frowned sadly. "Oh, but it's only tea, darling. Can't you stay for just an hour longer? It's the least I can do after all you've done for me today."

Blackthorn sighed, defeated. "Very well, I'll stay for an hour, but no longer."

Rarity smiled happily. "Wonderful! I'll get the tea right now." She pranced into the kitchen to get a large saucer which held two tea cups and a tea pot. She pranced back to the living room, placing the saucer in front of Blackthorn, and planted herself literally right next to him so that her face was less than a mere inch from his.

He in turn quickly moved himself back a bit, but he couldn't scoot himself any further away, as he was right next to the arm of the couch.

She smiled dreamily at him as she poured the tea absentmindedly. Suddenly, she screamed in pain. Steam flew into the air from the boiling tea pouring into her lap. She scrambled away from Blackthorn and onto her hooves, wiping herself down with her hooves frantically in a desperate attempt to rid herself of the pain.

Blackthorn stood to his hooves. "Are you alright, Rarity?"

She turned to him with a glare. "What do you th– um, I mean" –she forced a painful smile– "Y-yes, I'm fine, Blackthorn. Thank you for the concern. I just need to go and wipe myself off…" She then galloped out of the room and up the stairs. She flopped onto her bed and screamed into a pillow in frustration until she felt better. She sighed as she flipped her mane to the other side of her head, then took a towel and wiped herself down. "I need to pay more attention. I made myself look like a complete fool." She breathed slowly for five minutes, calming her nerves. "Okay, time to go apologize and try that again."

She calmly walked back into the living room, looking serious. "Blackthorn, I just want to apologize for how I acted before. I acted very foolish and extremely rude." She gave a small hopeful smile. "But I hope that you are still willing to stay for some tea and talk to me a little longer."

Blackthorn smiled. "It's alright, Rarity. I said I would stay for tea, so if you would be so kind as to pour the tea, I would like to know about your little business here."

Rarity gave a big, joyful smile. "Of course, darling!"

* * *

"And that's how I managed to get Hoity Toity to be one of my most loyal customers. Since then, I've had dozens of famous ponies order my wares."

Blackthorn smiled. "That's very impressive, Rarity. You're quite amazing."

Rarity giggled. "Oh, Blackthorn, you're so sweet–but yes, what you say is very true. I am amazing, aren't I, darling?"

He chuckled. "Yes, you are." He took a sip of the tea. "This tea is delicious! What did you put into it?"

"Oh, I can't tell you that, darling." She winked at him flirtatiously.

He nodded. "I understand." He took another sip, then looked up at the clock, surprised. "It's late, Rarity. I think I should be going."

She looked at him, disappointed. "Oh, are you sure, darling? We're having such a good time!"

"Yes, it's been fun, but I need to get back to where I belong." He stood, setting the cup down.

Rarity did the same. "I'll walk you to the door, then, Blackthorn." They both walked to the door and stopped in front of it. She smiled up at him. "Well, thank you ever so much for coming by, Blackthorn. Nopony could have done a nicer job than what you have done. You truly are just darling, you know that?"

"Thank you, Rarity. It was my pleasure. After all you and your friends did for my people, you are more than worth all the work I did."

Rarity blushed a bit as she giggled, waving him off. "Oh, darling, you're too kind–but it's true, I am, aren't I?"

Blackthorn smiled as he pulled out a rock oddly similar to the leaf of a tree. He handed it to her and said, "Here, take this."

Rarity looked at it, unsure. "Um... thank you, darling, but would you mind telling me what it is, though?" The rock was bright green; if she hadn't been holding it, she surely would've thought it was a regular old leaf.

"It's an emerald; I carved the leaf shape into it. I don't kn–"–

"Emerald?! Oh I love it!" Rarity shouted gleefully. She pulled him into a big hug and kissed his cheek.

His face went red with embarrassment. "Um, you're welcome, Rarity."

She flashed a sultry smile as she whispered into his ear, "Do come back again sometime, darling."

"I will try, but I am very busy. I don't know when I'll be able to visit again."

Well you can write can't you?

He flashed a smile as he nodded of course I can. I will write to you whenever I get a chance Rarity.

"Wonderful! I look forward to your letters or better yet a visit! Oh, and have a safe trip home now, and thank you so much for the gift!"

Thank you I will try my best to stay safe. You're welcome by the way. He then left her home.

She closed the door with a sigh of content. I think I did it.

 **I don't think we have any fanfictions shipping Blackthorn and Rarity do we? Well now we do. And a sequel will be out soon too! Thanks for reading and please review telling me what you thought and how this can be improved along with myself as a writer. This story was edited by Alicornpriest on Fimfiction, big thanks to him.**


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